Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Females

Baroness Northover: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of global demographic change in which almost 24 per cent of women globally are aged 50 and over, what steps they are taking to ensure that sustainable development goal indicators on violence against women specifically include women over the age of 49, and to ensure that those women are not excluded from reporting mechanisms in the future.

Baroness Verma: Supporting robust indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 5.2 on violence against women and girls is critical. DFID is working with international partners including the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data to support the development of strong indicators and the development of rigorous, available national data that will enable measurement of progress to end violence against women and girls of all ages.

Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Commissioners of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact receive funding to cover travel and hotel expenses ahead of visits, or whether they are reimbursed for meeting those costs personally.

Baroness Verma: The majority of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) commissioners’ air and rail journeys and hotels are booked in advance by the ICAI secretariat through DFID’s internal travel system to ensure value for money in line with DFID/ICAI guidance. These invoices are then verified and settled by the Secretariat. In the minority of cases where travel cannot be booked in advance, commissioners pay up-front and their submitted expense claims with receipts are then verified by the Head of the Secretariat and reimbursed.

Department for Education

Classroom Assistants and Teachers: Males

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 4 December (HL3456), what urgent action they are taking to remedy the shortage of male teachers and teaching assistants.

Lord Nash: We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom, regardless of their gender; evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve. We are pleased that the quality of entrants to initial teacher training, as measured by degree class, remains high, with 18 per cent of postgraduate entrants, a new record, holding a first-class degree. Recent figures show that 26 per cent of teachers in publicly funded schools in England are male. The proportion of men starting initial teacher training programmes in 2015/16 is 31 per cent. The proportion of entrants to the School Direct (salaried) scheme in 2015/16 who are male is 34 per cent.Given this performance, the government does not feel that top-down targets for the recruitment of men into initial teacher training would be appropriate. Similarly, it is schools that employ teaching assistants and they are best placed to decide who are the most appropriate for that role regardless of gender.

Family Rights Group: Finance

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to provide support for the Family Rights Group advice service when its current funding expires in March 2016.

Lord Nash: Following the spending review, the Department is considering future spending priorities right across the board, including those important grants we make to voluntary and community sector organisations. We will announce next steps on funding for 2016/17 and beyond in due course.

Academies Enterprise Trust

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many formal notices have been issued to the Academies Enterprise Trust or individual schools within that Trust; and what discussions they have had with the relevant Regional Schools Commissioner regarding that Trust.

Lord Nash: Pre-warning notices in relation to academies are subject to ongoing review and, where appropriate, intervention as part of the regular dialogue between the trust and Regional Schools Commissioners.Details of all formal notices that have been issued are in the public domain and have been attached to this answer.



Attachment
(PDF Document, 281.66 KB)

Education: Finance

Lord Blunkett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 9 December (HL3996), what assessment is being made of the impact on the provision of child and adolescent mental health services, broader special needs support and psychological services, of reductions announced in the Autumn Statement to the provision for areas of education spending in England that are not ring-fenced.

Lord Nash: As set out in the response to the previous question from the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett (HL3996), the £600 million reduction to the Education Services Grant, announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement, should have no direct impact on the provision of child and adolescent mental health services, broader special needs support, or psychological services.Support for special educational needs is funded from the core schools budget, which we are protecting in real terms.The government has made children and young people’s mental health support a priority and we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in children and young people’s perinatal mental health services over the next five years. Each Clinical Commissioning Group has put in place a local transformation plan for children and young people’s mental health to set out how services will be improved. These have been drawn up in partnership with local authorities, schools and colleges to ensure they cover the full spectrum of interventions, from prevention to support and care for existing or emerging mental health problems, transitions between services, and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.Local authorities have statutory duties to provide services and support for children and young people with SEND, including providing educational psychologist expertise. Local authorities are best placed to judge local priorities and to make local funding decisions, and it is therefore for them, in consultation with local people and having regard to the range of statutory responsibilities placed on them, to determine the exact nature of provision in their areas, including how best to allocate resources and how to fulfil their obligations.

Ministry of Defence

Aircraft Carriers: Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government who will decide when Sea Lightning squadrons are embarked or disembarked on the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

Earl Howe: The decision on whether to operate embarked or disembarked squadrons will be taken by the Strategic Headquarters in the Ministry of Defence.

Aircraft Carriers: Military Aircraft

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the embarked carrier air wing of Sea Lightnings, Merlins, Crowsnest aircraft, and Wildcats will be under Maritime Task Force command.

Earl Howe: Command of embarked aircraft will be dependent on a variety of factors such as but not limited to, the specific task, whether it is a national or coalition commitment, threat levels and theatre of operations.

Nuclear Submarines

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 and the revised time and cost estimates to the Trident programme, when the next major orders will be placed for long lead items and hull fabrication.

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there will still be a main gate decision for the Vanguard-class replacements.

Earl Howe: In 2016, we expect to approve the next stage of the programme to replace the Vanguard Class submarines and to commit to further investment to demonstrate the ability of the submarine enterprise to deliver the programme to time and cost. Long lead materials procurement continues within the on-going Assessment Phase.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Directors: Females

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce measures to set quotas for women on boards.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Government is committed to seeing more women on the boards of British companies. We believe that a business led, voluntary approach is the best way to get more women on boards, as set out in Lord Davies of Abersoch’s review 2010 into the subject.This approach is working, with 26.2% representation in the FTSE 100, up from 12.5% in 2011. We will build on this with a new programme of work set out by Lord Davies in his recent 5 year report on progress. Government will therefore not be introducing measures to set quotas for women on boards.